


Never Touch Fire

by aquixx



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Naruto
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-04-14 16:30:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14139978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquixx/pseuds/aquixx
Summary: DISCONTINUEDNaruto and Sasuke are sent to the Avatarverse! Takes place post chapter 698 and at the very beginning  of The Legend of Korra. This fic is almost 100% self-indulgent. Sue me. Naruto and Legend of Korra crossover. Also NaruSasu.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place post chapter 698. I'm aiming for ~1000 words per chapter but we'll see how this goes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto and Sasuke are sent to the Avatarverse.

Sasuke was done. He wasn't going to run any longer. He wasn't going to cut off his bonds, but he wasn't going to strive particularly hard to form new ones. Naruto had beaten him. He only had one reason to stay alive now.

 

_If you're willing to die, then stay alive and help me instead._

 

That was all he had now, and honestly that was all he needed or wanted. Naruto smiled at him, face bloody and bruised. Sasuke knew that he didn't look any better. He smiled back. Slowly, they reached their hands towards each other. Sasuke was aware that Kakashi and Sakura were watching them. They certainly wanted Naruto and him to hurry up. They needed medical treatment.

 

Naruto’s fingers wrapped around Sasuke’s to form the ram seal. He felt chakra course through him and into the earth, releasing the Infinite Tsukuyomi. For a split second, Sasuke could see the every place being released individually, although he didn't have a headache at the rush of images. A part of him knew that Naruto was seeing the same thing.

 

Sasuke wasn't expecting himself to start floating. He sent a feeling glance to Naruto, only to see that the boy was just as shocked as he was.

 

Sasuke thought he was healed enough to walk, but apparently he was wrong. His vision darkened suddenly and he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. So he was going to die after all. Naruto would be mad at him, surely. Sasuke had reminisced enough in the last hour. He didn't see his life flashing before his eyes as he edged closer to death. The last thing he thought of was how much Naruto was going to yell at him even in his death before his consciousness slipped away.

 

-break-

 

Sasuke peeled his eyes open, the left one with some difficulty thanks to the blood in his eyelashes. His first thought; being dead isn't supposed to hurt. His second thought; it's way too bright. His third thought; is that Naruto?

 

Sasuke was floating in a white expanse. This looked eerily like the place Naruto and Sasuke’s minds had gone to when Rasengan and Chidori had collided after Sasuke had killed Danzo. Only now the two shinobi were in a much worse condition and on the same side. Naruto was already awake and staring at him, much too close for Sasuke liking.

 

“We're not dead!” Naruto chirped before Sasuke could even ask. Sasuke almost groaned. Naruto must have deciphered his expression.

 

“Don't look so disappointed, bastard!” Naruto yelled. Sasuke’s lip twitched upwards. Naruto scanned his face before stepping away and scoffing.

 

When a man flickered into existence behind Naruto, Sasuke’s mind kicked into overdrive (he was just really tired). He didn't think. Electricity crackled in his palm and he lunged forward. Naruto's eyes widened and ducked under the strike. He turned around to see Sasuke pushing a sword through the man's chest. Or… not. Sasuke went right through the guy.

 

Sasuke saw things very differently. He only realized what he'd done when Naruto dodged his attack. He didn't know what he would've done if Naruto hadn't ducked. His mind was brought back to the soon-to-be victim of his attack when his hand started to feel like it was on fire. His Chidori morphed and stretched until Sasuke thought it had involuntarily shifted into a Chidori Sharp Spear, before the electricity died and Sasuke was left holding his sword that he was sure he'd lost sometime during his fight with Madara.

 

Sasuke hadn't gone through the man, no. The man had gone through Sasuke. It was his own form that flickered which caused Sasuke to almost drop his blade. His stomach felt terribly fragile and for the second his body flickered Sasuke struggled to breath. The utter panic that went through him caused the blade to go skittering away from him.

 

Naruto could only watch with wide eyes and jump back from the man. He didn't know where Sasuke had gotten his sword from but the more weapons they had, the better.

 

“I'm not going to attack you,” the man said, his voice strained. Sasuke had retrieved his sword again and was staring at the man, disbelief crossing his features. “I'm only here to talk.”

 

Naruto knew from experience that some people really did only come to talk. He saw Sasuke’s expression harden before Sasuke disappeared altogether. Naruto was about to throw it all to the wind and attack the man himself before Sasuke appeared next to him. Naruto relaxed, albeit slightly.

 

“What do you want?” Naruto asked. He wanted to get out of here. He felt helpless. He was almost drained of chakra and had no weapons. Sasuke was in the same state but had somehow managed to get his sword. If this man attacked them, they probably wouldn't last that long.

 

“You're not supposed to be in the place you are,” the man said. He was about to continue before Sasuke interrupted him.

 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Sasuke growled. He hadn't even given the man a chance to explain. Naruto sweatdropped. The temper was something Naruto would need to work on. Sasuke couldn't go around burning things to feel calm anymore. Konoha wouldn't stand for it. An angry Sasuke was not a good thing.

 

“Seek out the avatar to return home. The spirits will help you.”

 

Naruto cringed. Sasuke wasn't going to like that. When Naruto didn't hear Sasuke’s voice or the sound of a fight, he peeked his eyes open, only to see that the whole not-world was fading around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the POV changed like 3/4 the way through and honestly that just happened. Updates are in no way going to be consistent, sorry about that. This is self-indulgent though, so... oops?
> 
> Next chapter: Naruto meets Katara!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto meets Katara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so weirdly hard to write Naruto?? I don't even know why. His character is so obvious I guess so he should be easy to write but it's not? Like why. Why am I like this. It's also so weird to write interactions. This is pretty diologue heavy but I'm bad at avoiding diologue. Oops.  
> I find it so much easier to write Sasuke but I probably butcher his character more so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯.

When Naruto woke up, he found himself freezing and surrounded by small children. “Ah!” he yelled, scrambling away. He shivered when he felt snow seeping into his clothes.

 

An old lady stepped forward, ushering the kids away. A warm smile came over her features. “Please, calm down,” she said. Naruto subconsciously mapped the room in his head. “They didn't mean to startle you. They've been helping me heal you, that's all.”

 

Naruto stood up, his feet shaky. He almost fell again when his center of balance was not where he expected it to be. That's right, he didn't have an arm now.

 

“Where am I?” he asked, trying to keep suspicion out of his voice.

 

“Near the South Pole. This is the medical bay in the village of the Southern Water Tribe.”

 

That didn't sound good. Naruto had no idea what that meant. He'd have to ask Sasuke. Speaking of Sasuke…

 

“Where's Sasuke?” he growled, his eyes narrowing dangerously. The woman seemed startled by his change in demeanor. She took a step back. It took a moment for her to recompose herself.

 

“There's no one here by the name of Sasuke.”

 

Naruto was startled when he could feel his own killing intent. Sasuke  _ had  _ to be here.

 

“He's about my height, black hair, also missing an arm,” Naruto said, gesturing to his various body parts. This woman was mistaken. Sasuke was here. Naruto  _ knew  _ he was here. The little blue dot that was glowing in his heart was proof of that.

 

The woman looked taken aback. “You were the only one who showed up here,” she said sadly. Naruto swore. He'd just gotten Sasuke back and now he was gone again?!

 

“I need to find him,” Naruto decided. “Sorry old lady. Thanks for healing me and everything.” He began to head towards the entrance. The only thought running through his find was  _ have to find Sasuke have to find Sasuke have to find Sasuke  _ like a broken record.

 

Naruto faltered at the door, a sheepish smile on his face as he turned around. “Oh yeah, where are we?”

 

The old lady looked amused. Naruto couldn't help but feel stupid. He was a shinobi, he was supposed to be good at collecting information and looking underneath the underneath. Yet here he was marching into the world without a clue of where he was or what direction to go in.

 

“This is the village of the southern water tribe.”

 

The lady had already said that. Naruto had meant what country they were in. He wasn't _ that  _ stupid and he definitely didn't forget that what she'd said a few seconds ago. Naruto had no idea what the southern water tribe was. He was about to ask what clans the tribe was made up of, but then he realized that he was useless in geography and he didn't know what clans inhabited what areas.

 

“Do you have… a map?” Naruto asked. This lady clearly didn't understand him. His Sasuke-induced panic thoughts were not going to help, either. He had to think (act) rationally.

 

The lady didn't say anything for a while. Naruto started to fidget the tiniest bit.

 

“Let's get you some new clothes first.”

 

A few minutes later Naruto was decked in a thick blue jacket and fur pants, combined with boots and gloves. He kept his old clothes in a rucksack that the lady had given him. It's not that he cared for the clothes themselves—he could always buy new ones in Konoha—but his hitai-ate was safely hidden away in the back pocket of his pants and he was afraid he'd lose it. Naruto was still fighting the feeling to go running in a random direction while screaming Sasuke’s name. He restrained himself.

 

The lady laid out a map in front of him. Naruto was surprised. This map looked nothing like the ones he was used to.

 

“Where's the Land of Fire?” Naruto asked. He couldn't recognize  _ any  _ of the places that were on this map. The continents were unfamiliar. So were the seas and everything in between.

 

The old woman gave Naruto a strange look. “The Fire Nation is here,” she said, pointing to an area shaded light red on the map. It was higher than it should've been and there weren't any large countries to the north of it, namely the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth. It was surrounded by water. Plus, Konoha wasn't indicated at all.

 

“I don't get it,” Naruto said. “I've never seen a map like this. Where are we on here?”

 

The lady looked confused, pointing to a place on the bottom of the map which surprised Naruto. They weren't even in the Land of Fire anymore? “We're here.”

 

“Where are all the other countries? Why is the Land of Fire in the middle of the ocean?” Naruto asked, voicing his concerns. “And the smaller lands, too. There's no Hidden Villages on this map, as far as I can tell.”

 

“Why would anyone want a hidden village on a map?” the lady asked. Naruto decided this woman was insane.

 

“They're not actually hidden,” he said slowly, hoping he wasn't dealing with a lunatic. “They're just called that.” Suddenly, he had an idea. “Do you have paper?”

 

The lady nodded and rifled through a desk, pulling out paper and a pen. She handed it to Naruto, who quickly scribbled in some shapes and dotted lines, labeling some parts.

 

“I'm from Konoha,” he said, pointing out Konoha just in case this lady  _ was  _ crazy. “Where are we on here?”

 

The lady examined the roughly drawn mess that might be considered a map. It honestly looked like chicken scratch, considering Naruto had drawn it with his left hand.

 

“This isn't our world,” she said, her eyes flitting up to Naruto and then back to the hastily drawn map. “What did you say your name was?” Yeah, she was definitely crazy.

 

“Naruto,” Naruto said.

 

“Well, Naruto,” the lady said, clasping her hands together. “My name is Katara. I don't think you're from this world. I believe a spirit brought you here.”

 

Naruto stared, dumbfounded. That was impossible. He was probably in some weird genjutsu, or some strange after effect of releasing the Infinite Tsukuyomi. But then again, Sasuke was here too. His whole forte was genjutsu. One of them, at least.

 

“Spirit…” Naruto thought. He would believe this lady until he found Sasuke. After that he'd figure out the real story. Then he remembered. “Oh yeah! The guy said we're not where we're supposed to be or something. He said something about spirits too!”

 

“What guy?” Katara asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

 

“I don't know,” Naruto said, scratching his cheek. “He had a lot of orange, y’know? And he was bald with this weird arrow on his head. He was talking to us in this empty white place.”

 

Katara took a moment to think about this. “Yes, I don't think you're from this world.”

 

She gave Naruto a moment for this to sink in.

 

“How do we get back?” he asked, just in case.

 

“I'm not sure, but I need to know what that man said to you.”

 

“Um…” Naruto couldn't remember the details. “I don't remember exactly, but…” His mind flashed to red eyes which remembered anything they saw. “I bet Sasuke remembers what he said!” Naruto didn't feel like exposing their secrets yet, no matter if this really  _ was _ a different world where things couldn't be used against them. “He has a really good memory. He can probably tell you a lot more than I can.”

 

“Well, we should find him, then,” Katara said, a small smile growing on her face.

 

“Hell yeah!” Naruto exclaimed. “But this is a new world, y’know? I have no idea where to start looking.”

 

Katara rolled up both maps, handing them to Naruto. “Republic City is the most populated city in this world. Many travelers pass through there. Someone might have seen Sasuke if he arrived the same time as you did. You've been unconscious for almost a week.”

 

Naruto didn't care. All he cared about was that now he knew where to look. He wasn't worried about Sasuke, he could handle himself. But still, being away from the other boy now that he'd gotten him back was enough to give Naruto a significant amount of anxiety. Naruto still restrained himself from taking off. “How do I get there?” he asked, visualizing the map he'd tucked into his bag. There had been a pretty large dot labeled 'Republic City’. “There's a whole ocean in between.”

 

Katara began to mused to herself. “Ah, Korra will try to sneak off tonight. You can go with her.”

 

“Who's Korra?” Naruto asked. “Why's she sneaking off?” and then, “She's a girl?”

 

“You'll meet her later,” Katara replied. Okay, that made sense if he was running off with her. “She's leaving to get stronger.” That sounded terribly familiar. However, Katara seemed okay with it. “And yes, she is a girl.”

 

“How do you know she's sneaking off?”

 

Katara smiled softly. “I know Korra,” she said. Naruto blinked. Okay then.

 

“How long’s it gonna take to get there?”

 

Katara didn't answer his question, but seemed to realize something. “You'll need to get food for the trip,” she said. “Come with me.”

  
Naruto’s stomach growled loudly. He  _ could  _ use some ramen. For now, not the trip. Though ramen for the trip didn't sound too bad. Naruto let out an embarrassed laugh. Katara chuckled and left the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO BASICALLY I recently discovered that Sasuke can deactivate his rinnegan in cannon and now I feel stupid. Anyway I have up until chapter five done and I'm almost done with chapter six. I'm sure there's people waiting for Sasuke so:  
> Chapter Three - Naruto  
> Chapter Four - Sasuke  
> Chapter Five - Naruto  
> Chapter Six - Sasuke.
> 
> ALSO chapter six is STILL episode one and I want another Naruto chapter to end it. So basically prepare yourself for a load of bs. Sorryyy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto meets Korra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I thoroughly apologise for paragraph twenty-seven. I couldn't help myself. You'll know it when you read it.
> 
> Also, I know Naga is not a bear. She is a polar bear dog. However, Naruto doesn't know that.
> 
> In fact, Naruto doesn't know a lot of things about the Avatarverse, which is why some of the explanations in this chapter are wrong. Don't get mad/frustrated when you see 'em, 'cause it was deliberate.

That night, Naruto was led into a gated area built into the ice. His bag provided him with an annoying weight that threw him even more off balance than he already was. Katara had given him an extra change of clothes since this old ones were 'ruined’, apparently, and it was far warmer in Republic City. Rather than ramen, he had some leftover fish from whatever Katara had had for breakfast. After all, Naruto had been awake for less than twenty-four hours.

 

Rather than watching the girl while Katara talked to her, Naruto was watching the bear thing that was behind her. He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little intimidated. Sure, he had faced things much worse than it looked, but it was staring back at Naruto and seemed a lot smarter than Naruto would ever give it credit for.

 

“This is Naruto,” Katara said when she broke off from her hug with 'Korra’.

 

“Why's he here?” Korra asked.

 

“He's going with you.”

 

The repulsed look on the Korra’s face made Naruto go on the defensive. “I'm not _that_ ugly!”

 

Both Katara and Korra gave him a weird look. Than Korra laughed and failed to cover it with her hand. “Why's he coming with me?” Korra asked, turning back to Katara.

 

“He's looking for someone in Republic City,” Katara said. Korra opened her mouth to say something else, but Katara spoke first. “You should leave if you want to say goodbye to your parents before catching your ship.”

 

Korra's eyes widened. She stomped her foot on the ground. Snow fell away to make a tunnel. The bear jumped in.

 

“Follow me,” Korra said, jumping into the hole, too. Naruto stared at it. This… didn't seem safe. He gave Katara a fleeting look, who nodded slightly. Naruto steeled himself and jumped in.

 

They came out some ways away from where they had been before. The area was actually quite small, smaller than Naruto had thought. Korra turned to Naruto.

 

“Get on Naga,” she said after scanning him. She jumped onto the bear. Naruto considered it, but soon realized he could probably just run. Also, he was afraid he'd lose his balance and get trampled by the bear itself.

 

“I'll just run,” Naruto said, shouldering his bag. Korra scoffed.

 

“Listen, kid. We can't waste time.”

 

“I can keep up,” Naruto said, crossing his arms. Then he realized he only had one arm and dropped it awkwardly. “And my name is _Naruto_ , not kid.” Naruto could definitely move as fast as a summon as big as this bear, and this bear wasn't even a summon, it was just a normal animal. It didn't have much chakra. The girl, at least, had more, but it felt smoother (if chakra could be described as _smooth_ ) than what Naruto was used to. There was also significantly less than the amount of chakra a chunin or even a genin would have. But then again, he was in a different world and Naruto’s sensory abilities have never been all that great (unless he was in nine-tails mode or sage mode, which he wasn't).

 

“Just get on,” Korra hissed. Naruto could tell that she wanted to yell but was trying not to attract attention. He also knew that standing here and arguing wouldn't help save time, so he huffed.

 

“Fine,” he muttered, attempting to cross his arms (again) and dropping it awkwardly after realizing there was only one (also again). Korra raised an eyebrow and hopped onto the bear. Naruto followed her example, but he didn't really know how to get onto an animal with one arm yet so he simply forced chakra into his feet to make him jump onto the bear's back.

 

Naruto hung back while Korra said goodbye to her parents. That had been advice from Korra herself. Naruto thought it was strange. No one minded if a girl travelled with a boy in Konoha, but then again they were shinobi and usually traveling together was a great way to avoid life or death situations. Naruto figured that this world didn't have shinobi.

 

At long last, Naruto found himself in the hull of a cargo ship. It was pretty uncomfortable, but he'd slept in worse so he didn't mind. However, he was absolutely _starving_.

 

“You brought food?” Korra asked when Naruto pulled out the container that Katara had given him. He raised his eyebrows. Had Korra run away without even thinking of bringing something as important as food?

 

“Uh, yeah,” Naruto said, opening the box. “You didn't?”

 

Rather than answering his question, Korra said, “Can I have some?”

 

Naruto handed her a fork. She grinned at him before starting to eat.

 

After a few minutes, she broke the silence. Naruto still had food stuffed in his face.

 

“So who's this person you're looking for?” she asked through a mouthful. Naruto had the decency to chew a little before answering.

 

“My best friend. I lost him a little while ago.” _Best friend_ seemed like far too little and inappropriate now, but Naruto had said it so many times he didn't really know what else to call them. It was hard to put it into words. What should he call someone whose pain he also felt and vice versa. Brother didn't seem quite right. In the end he'd settled for sticking 'closest’ or 'best’ in front of the word 'friend’, but it always left a weird taste in Naruto’s mouth.

 

Somewhere, in a dark, terrible, eerie part of the universe which Naruto was not aware of someone whispered _soulmate_ and sank into oblivion.

 

“That's cool,” Korra said, taking another bite.

 

“So why’re you trying to get stronger?” Naruto asked.

 

“I'm gonna learn airbending,” Korra answered. Naruto’s mind went blank.

 

“Airbending?”

 

“You haven't heard of airbending?” Korra asked, looking at him like he was stupid. Naruto shrugged and shook his head. It's not his fault he was in a different world.

 

“Wow,” Korra said, taking another bite. She seemed to be thinking of how to explain it. “Um, it's kinda like… controlling the air? I'll show you when we get to Republic City.”

 

Controlling the air sounded like an awesome power. If they controlled the air, that meant they didn't use chakra the same way shinobi did. Shinobi changed the nature of their chakra to wind, they didn't control air that was already there (unless one was a Temari and used a large fan as a weapon). Naruto needed to change his chakra nature to wind and then create a jutsu from it. Controlling air that was already there shouldn't require that from what Naruto had gathered.

 

Korra set down her fork and closed the box, handing it back to Naruto. With a small amount of difficulty Naruto managed to get it back into the bag, which was annoyingly floppy. He hadn't realized how useful having two hands had been.

 

“I don't want to be rude or anything but… uh… can I ask about your arm?” Korra asked, looking sheepish. Naruto didn't see the problem with that.

 

“What about it?” he asked, getting into a more comfortable position against Naga. The bear wasn't _so_ bad. At least, it hadn't tried to eat him yet.

 

“Were you born without it?” Korra asked. Naruto shook his head.

 

“I lost it in a fight.”

 

Korra's eyes shined. Naruto wondered if he'd said too much. “Really?! Who were you fighting?”

 

“Ah, well… my best friend,” Naruto muttered. Now she was going to judge Sasuke. He'd _definitely_ said too much, dammit.

 

There was a beat of silence, and then, “Why would your best friend fight you?” Korra asked, horrified. Naruto could hear the unsaid _and take your arm_.

 

“He thought he was doing the right thing,” Naruto blurted. He quickly realized how hostile he'd sounded. Sasuke had just wanted to create peace, even if he had a really messed up (like, _really really_ messed up) way of doing it. Naruto couldn't _not_ defend Sasuke. It was kind of his second instinct.

 

Korra didn't say anything, and Naruto knew she was berating 'Naruto’s best friend’ in her head. He had to convince her that Sasuke wasn't a bad guy. Even if he'd wanted to kill Naruto before, he'd turned for the better. Naruto knew he had, despite Sasuke not even believing in himself (Naruto would convince him he wasn't a bad guy, too, eventually. Sasuke was just being stupid). Even if it had only happened the last time Naruto had been awake, he knew Sasuke. The Uchiha had dowright _cried_. If that wasn't enough proof, Naruto didn't know what was.

 

“It doesn't matter now, anyway. We're even,” Naruto said angrily. Then he clamped his mouth shut. He should just stop talking. He should really stop talking.

 

“What?”

 

Sasuke was going to kill him. Wait, no, he wouldn't try to do that anymore. Sasuke would give him a friendly punch to the face and call him a stupid dead last.

 

“He kinda doesn't have an arm anymore either,” Naruto mumbled. Korra didn't react at first, but then she was gaping.  Before she could ask any more question, Naruto turned around. “I'm going to sleep.”

 

Surprisingly, he did fall asleep after that. He didn't even have a nightmare (but he knew they'd come soon enough).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And in the next chapter we will check in on Sasuke.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is Sasuke up to?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems to me that everyone has a different view of Sasuke in their heads but that's what makes fanfiction fun. Anyway, I think Sasuke has always been pretty honest and likes to keep his motivations clear, although his thought process isn't the most straightforward. There are a couple parts in this that I didn't know exactly how to word but oh well. Also, I don't want Sasuke to completely lose his ideals or need for revolution but he is still recently (very recently) 'reformed'.

A creaking floorboard made Sasuke wince. It was dark and he would barely be able to see if not for his rinnegan. However, his chakra reserves were barely enough to keep him awake for that long, much less constantly be averted to the dojutsu. He'd tried deactivating it when he'd first woken up—which was seven minutes ago—to no avail. He didn't have enough control or practice with it yet to do so. He'd settled for pushing his bangs over his left eye for the time being. Unfortunately, that didn't work because his bangs weren't long enough. If he closed his left eye, he could barely see, but it lowered the amount of chakra he was draining. He considered activating his sharingan to see but had realized that that would be counterproductive as it would drain his chakra even more. Now he was wandering around the house with one eye closed while virtually blind.

 

There were other people in the house and he had considered killing them all, but Naruto would probably punch him for that so he'd settled on trying to avoid them for as long as possible. Also, he didn't have weapons. Not that he needed weapons to kill people, but anyways.

 

He'd woken up in a bed, which was creepy enough on its own. He should've woken up in a prison cell. That was what he'd been expecting. Instead, he was wearing loose-fitting itchy pants and a matching top in mint green so at first he'd thought he was in the hospital. The clothes were also incredibly uncomfortable not to mention ugly. After creeping around for a bit he realized he was in more of a huge house. He'd had to use his feet to rip off an IV that was attached to his hand so now it was stinging, but he would endure. He had other priorities.

 

His 'sword’ had been lying in the room he'd woken up in, too. He'd chosen not to bring it, though, because upon inspection he'd realized that it was just a mass of condensed chakra. He hadn't even known chakra could do stuff like that. Not only that, but it was a mass of highly condensed chakra that had gone through a lightning nature transformation. In Sasuke’s eyes, it was basically a bomb if touched the wrong way. He wasn't going to take that risk. He'd get weapons later.

 

Speaking of weapons, he couldn't sense Naruto’s chakra at all. That was worrying, considering Sasuke was pretty sure that Naruto had come here—wherever here was—with him. Sasuke had spent so long trying to get away from (kill) the other boy and the emotions that came with him that it felt strange to be looking _for_ him. Sasuke needed time to think about what to do next. He wasn't going to go rogue again thanks to Naruto. However, he still wasn't down with Konoha’s hierarchy or the shinobi system. The Raikage and Tsuchikage needed to go, the Mizukage wasn't too bad. The Kazekage just so happened to be Naruto’s friend so Sasuke didn't have as much of an issue with him as the others. The Hokage was fine, too. Even if she and Sasuke weren't particularly fond of each other, she was still compassionate enough and if her gambling addiction was any indicator she didn't really value pride. Mostly, he accepted her because she valued Naruto’s opinion.

 

But then again, Sasuke wasn't opposed to killing himself and letting the world be. Though Naruto had already made clear what he felt about that.

 

Sasuke had assumed he'd get some jail time. He would've thought about what to do then. Unfortunately, he wasn't getting into prison so long as he was stuck in this place.

 

Sasuke cursed internally when he walked into another room that did not hold a main entrance. _How hard can it be to find one goddamn door?_ He would've jumped out the window a long time ago, but after realizing how high this stupid giant house was built and how his chakra reserves weren't enough to cushion the fall or walk down the wall, he'd settled for finding the main entrance. From what Sasuke had seen so far, it was as if such a thing didn't exist.

 

He sensed someone approaching. Unfortunately, the person was approaching from the only entrance and the room had no alternate exits. Sasuke considered breaking down the wall to get away, but then realized that whoever was approaching had an undeveloped chakra network. He could take this person even with minimal chakra. Plus, breaking down the wall would require more chakra than Sasuke was willing to spare.

 

The lights flicked on and Sasuke took a defensive stance. If this guy attacked first it would give Sasuke an opening to escape. He couldn't fight with severe chakra exhaustion, after all. He still couldn't work out why he had so little chakra after who-knows-how-long he slept for. It was as if he hadn't regained any chakra at all since his fight with Naruto (which couldn't have been that long ago, but still). He'd also never fought with one arm before and his balance was off whack.

 

“You're awake,” the guy said, sounding unamused. “What are you doing here?”

 

Sasuke figured it would be easier to kill him. He looked around to find that he was in a kitchen of sorts. There must be knives in one of these drawers. He wasn't going to waste chakra.

 

“Where am I?” Sasuke growled, drawing his leg back. He figured he probably didn't look all that threatening wearing hospital clothes, with no weapons, and down one arm.

 

“Calm down,” the man said dismissively. “You were injured so we brought you here to heal you.”

 

So yes, Sasuke had been pretty injured. The excuse checked out. But Sasuke was a criminal and the Uchiha name was well-known. There was no doubt that this guy knew who he was.

 

“Where are we?” Sasuke asked, eyeing the entrance. If he could just shift a tiny bit to the left he would be able to make an escape. There was no time for him to find a knife. This guy knew his kitchen better than Sasuke did anyway. Who’s to say he wasn't planning to run a knife through Sasuke too?

 

“Air Temple Island,” the man replied easily. Sasuke had never heard of the place. It may as well be a prison, considering it was an island. Even if it seemed pretty shoddy for a prison for people as powerful as Sasuke (he wasn't going to degrade power he knew he had. He had some pride left). After all, every door was unlocked and he could've jumped out the window if he'd been awake a little longer. Then again, it seemed as if there was no main entrance. However, asking more questions would make him look stupid. He nodded, standing up a little straighter and pretended to let down his guard. Before Sasuke could bolt, the man spoke. “Is there anything you'd like to do until the morning? It _is_ the middle of the night and I'd like to sleep.”

 

That… was weird. A war had just ended and this guy (warden, guard, whatever) was inviting an obvious shinobi (prisoner) to wander around his house (prison) while he slept. If this guy had any idea who Sasuke Uchiha was, he wasn't showing it. He was a good guard. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Maybe killing him wasn't such a bad idea after all.

 

Still, a part of Sasuke hoped he didn't know who he was. If that was the case, he might as well figure out where he was and how to get back to Konoha without them thinking he'd run off or killed anyone. But he had to find Naruto before that. He also had to figure out what that white place was and what the man he had attacked had been talking about.

 

Well, first things first. “Do you have an atlas?”

 

The man raised his eyebrows for a moment before nodding. He led Sasuke into a place that seemed kind of like a study. Sasuke took notes of the bookshelves lining one wall. This place would likely be his source of information until he got a lead on Naruto or Naruto found him.

 

The man reached to one of the shelves and handed Sasuke a rather large book.

 

“Just leave it on the desk when you're done. I'm sure you remember where your room is?”

 

Sasuke did not, in fact, remember where his room was. It didn't matter, though, since he wasn't going to be getting any sleep anyway. Plus, the man would probably lock the door to make sure Sasuke didn't escape. He nodded. The man left, leaving the door was wide open. This man was definitely confident in his abilities. If he was going to kill this man, it would be easier to ambush him while his guard was down.

 

Flipping to the second page of the book, Sasuke’s eyes narrowed. This wasn't… this map was wrong. Sasuke glanced warily at the door. Did this guy keep faulty books on purpose? Maybe he was trying to throw Sasuke off. He'd clearly had his clothes changed. Whoever had taken his shirt must have seen the Uchiha fan emblazoned proudly on the back.

 

He was a sitting duck here. This guy had probably already sent out for authorities if this _wasn't_ a jail. Then he would claim the bounty for Sasuke’s capture (even if Sasuke didn't know if he even _had_ one of those).

 

Though that didn't explain the white space, or the fact that Sasuke had been here for at least forty-two hours. He'd been completely healed (despite the chakra exhaustion). Even if Sasuke hadn't been in the best condition, a few bandages would've been sufficient if the man had called Konoha as soon as he figured out that Sasuke was Sasuke. And there was the fact that Naruto was missing. Naruto _should_ be somewhere around here. Only he wasn't.

 

Sasuke almost groaned, but since he was Sasuke he didn't. Even a fake atlas couldn't be one hundred percent fake. The man didn't seem like the creative type. He could get some clues from it. So Sasuke flipped a few more pages, scanning for 'Air Temple Island’. Why would someone have a fake atlas in the first place? Where did this guy get it from?

 

Eventually, Sasuke found it. It didn't have a section of its own. It had a tiny description on a double page spread for some place called 'Republic City’. Unfortunately, that gave Sasuke no clue as to where he was. This 'Republic City’ was in the 'United Republic of Nations’. Still no help. _That_ was on the west coast of ‘Earth Kingdom’.

 

Now he was getting somewhere. Sasuke speculated that he must be somewhere in the Land of Earth. How he got from the Valley of the End to the Land of Earth, he had no idea.

 

Sasuke took a deep, calming breath and threw the atlas across the room. It hit the wall and landed face-down on the floor.

 

Even if he was in _Tsuchi no Kuni_ , he still had no way to get back to Konoha without getting arrested. Not to mention he still had to find Naruto. He probably wouldn't get far, anyway, since his chakra stores were so low. It was beginning to annoy him.

 

Sasuke left the atlas where it was and got another book from the shelf. Surely this man must have something that was real. Who in the right mind would keep so many fake books?

 

Maybe this guy was crazy and Sasuke should kill him while he had the chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need Tenzin to like Sasuke so let's see if anyone can figure out what's going to happen.
> 
> Chakra exhaustion is an annoying thing, isn't it? I needed a way to make sure Sasuke didn't prematurely run away or kill anyone.
> 
> The word shoddy is used in my geography textbook and it sounded so perfect.
> 
> After the war, I feel like Sasuke was pretty self-loathing and became hopeless after seeing no change. In Boruto it was like he'd forgotten about his goals entirely so I think that after a while he gave up and just decided to dedicate himself to protecting the one person he cared about. I also don't think he wants an heir or anything because he only really mentioned 'restoring the Uchiha' once, and then in Shippuden, he said that achieving what the clan wanted would be 'true restoration of the Uchiha', so I really think it's more about restoring honor (hi, Zuko) than the clan itself. At the end of his fight with Naruto, he says that killing himself would end the reincarnation cycle (or whatever you want to call it) and that would be revolution too. By not having any kids there would be no more people with Uchiha blood so the reincarnation cycle would stop which is, in a way, a revolution which is what he wants. I don't remember where I was going with this rant but I think I was going to address something else in the chapter. Oh well. That's what I think.
> 
> In he next chapter we're back to Naruto.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been… a very long time. I'll be updating this over the next few days until chapter nine (I've only written until there). After that I don't think I'll continue this story. I appreciate everyone who read this story and thank all of you!

Naruto blinked blearily to the sound of scraping metal. They were here already? He'd been hoping for at least a couple more hours of sleep… Wait, what was he saying?! They were finally here! Now he could find Sasuke!

 

Korra woke up just a few seconds after Naruto. Once she'd recognized her surroundings, she grinned. She noticed that Naruto was already awake and then nudged the bear’s paw. “Naga, we're here!” she exclaimed.

 

While the bear woke itself up, Naruto turned to watch the workers who came streaming in. They began to unload the crates. If they didn't move soon, they were going to get caught. Korra poked Naruto in the back. Naruto was about to scream (so _maybe_ he wasn't so great at stealth operations) before Korra put a finger to his lips. She gestured for him to get on Naga. Naruto _really_ would rather run, but giving the workers another glance he figured there wasn't any time for arguing.

 

Naga charged out of the gate with a rather excited Korra and a slightly queasy Naruto on her back. She knocked down a worker, to which Korra waved brightly at and exclaimed, “Thanks for the ride!” Naruto was busy trying not to fall off.

 

When Korra finally stopped, it was for the view. Naruto didn't care. He quickly got off the bear and took a few deep breaths. Korra said something about 'satomobiles’. Naruto was about to ask what that was supposed to mean before he felt a sharp jab in his brain. It was like white hot electricity running through him but strangely enough it didn't really hurt. Naruto’s head snapped to a tiny island behind a giant statue of a bald guy. That kind of weirded him out, but Naruto had other priorities.

 

“That was Sasuke,” he breathed. Korra gave him a strange look.

 

“What's a Sasuke?”

 

Naruto wondered if this world had people with sensory abilities. Before he got a chance to answer Korra's question, though, the girl followed his gaze.

 

“That's Air Temple Island. Tenzin lives there,” Korra explained. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

 

“Who's Tenzin?” Naruto asked. Korra gave him the weird look again, as if he was crazy.

 

“He's one of the only airbenders in the world. He's the one who's going to teach me.”

 

Naruto wondered why she thought he'd know who Tenzin was if he hadn't even known what airbending was before she'd told him.

 

“So we're going to go to the island?” Naruto asked, feeling strangely giddy. Or maybe it wasn't strange, 'cause Sasuke was there and that was the only reason Naruto wanted to come here in the first place.

 

“Yep,” Korra said, turning to her bear. “You ready for a little swim, girl?”

 

Naruto didn't know how Naga was supposed to answer that question. Maybe jump into the ocean with an overly enthusiastic roar or whatever sound bears made. Whatever it was, Naga didn't do it. Instead, the bear lifted its nose in the air and started running in the opposite direction. Naruto heard Korra yell something to her.

 

He cursed silently. He wanted to get to Sasuke as quick as possible. Still, going with Korra would bring up the least questions. He'd have to wait until Naga did whatever strange-looking bears did.

 

Thankfully, Naruto by now had enough chakra to run. He focused it in his feet and sprinted after Korra and Naga.

 

The duo ran right into what looked like a road, but instead of people there were huge metal box things. One of the boxes swerved when Naga ran in front of it. Naruto yelped, surprised by the sudden turn in direction. He narrowly avoided hitting it, jumping over it instead with a frantic, “Sorry!” Naruto didn't know whether the box was sentient or if it heard him, but it eased his conscience.

 

A second later, Naga ran onto _another_ road. Was the bear stupid or something? One of the bigger metal boxes on this road flipped sideways (that had to hurt). It rammed into another box, sending up sparks as it slid. Naruto hopped off the top of the box that was hit right before the two boxes made impact.

 

Korra looked back. Naruto was still trying to keep up. “Naruto, hurry up!” she yelled.

 

_Easy for you to say_ , Naruto thought. She wasn't the one who was wearing thirty layers of thick clothing and trying to avoid speeding boxes while trying to run after a crazy bear, y’know.

 

After running into multiple people, Naga finally slowed down. Naruto stopped, wiping sweat off of his forehead, not from exertion but from the heat. He shed his jacket to reveal a blue t-shirt underneath. He dumped the jacket into his already overflowing backpack, praying it wouldn't burst.

 

“Naga, wait,” Korra said sternly when the bear stuck its nose into a street vendor’s shop. The dog whimpered softly. Naruto came closer, still trying to rearrange the things in his bag (mostly clothes) so they fit.

 

Korra got off of Naga and walked to the front of the stall, eyeing the food. “We'll take one of everything, please,” she said. Naruto’s stomach growled loudly.

 

“That'll be—”

 

“Two of everything, actually,” he said cheekily. What? He was hungry.

 

“Forty yuans,” the lady said. That sounded like currency. Naruto had gotten food for the trip, he assumed Korra had gotten the money.

 

“Uh… I don't have any money?”

 

Naruto was horrified. He needed food! The bear needed food (but the bear was less important)! He needed to get to Sasuke, and that meant the bear had to eat!

 

The shopkeeper looked mad. “Then what good are you to me?” she snarled. Naruto winced. But then again, that's what they deserved for not bringing any money with them.

 

Korra comforted Naga as they walked away. Eventually, they ended up in a park. Naruto was trying to pinpoint Sasuke’s chakra but he couldn't seem to sense it at all anymore. His best hope to keep Sasuke where he was until he got to the temple was to flare his own chakra and hope that Sasuke sensed it. Naga was sniffing around the river for fish. Korra was setting them up on sticks.

 

When fire came out of the tip of Korra's finger, he couldn't help but stare. He hadn't seen any hand signs. Plus, from what he'd seen so far, people here couldn't use jutsu. And whatever that had been certainly wasn't the 'airbending’ that Korra wanted to learn. She didn't know how to do it yet.

 

“What was that?” Naruto asked. Korra stared at him blankly. Then she shook he head in exasperation.

 

“What—where are you even from? I've never seen you before but I just assumed you were part of the Southern Water Tribe. Clearly you're not.”

 

Okay, so whatever Korra had done was pretty common in this world. Good to know. Naruto wished he'd asked Katara for a better explanation of this world when she'd first told him.

 

Naruto wanted to tell Korra, but he figured that Sasuke wouldn't be happy if he made big decisions like that on his own since _both_ of them were stuck here. He'd be vague for now.

 

“We don't have airbending where I'm from,” Naruto said. Korra raised an eyebrow. “And we don't have bears like that or whatever fire thing you did just now or those metal boxes. It's really different from here.”

 

“Wait… you don't have bending where you're from?” Korra asked. Naruto shook his head. Bending was added to the list of words that Naruto didn't know. “That's weird.”

 

Naruto frowned but pushed forward. “Can you explain it to me?”

 

Korra sighed, placing a hand under her chin. “Well, first of all, Naga is a polar bear dog.” Polar bear. Dog. Naruto didn't want to know how that had happened. He suppressed his shiver. Though it did explain why what he'd thought was a bear looked so weird. “So… bending. There's firebenders, earthbenders, waterbenders, and airbenders.” So almost like the elemental affinities, but without lightning. Naruto still didn't understand exactly how it worked. He waited patiently for Korra to explain. “Tenzin probably has some books on it.”

 

When it became clear Korra wasn't going to continue, Naruto hung his head. Reading was the last thing he wanted to do. The first thing he wanted to do was find Sasuke and then find a way to get home. Reading didn't seem motivating at all compared to that.

 

Naruto went back to his Sasuke sensing when an old guy appeared out of a bush to talk to Korra. This would be so much easier if he had Kurama’s help. The fox was still sleeping, though. It made sense. A lot of the chakra he was regaining was going straight into Naruto’s chakra pathways. No wonder his chakra had replenished so quickly after waking up. When he was sleeping most of his chakra was being used to heal him and to keep him alive.

 

A whistle broke Naruto’s concentration. He angled his head to look at what he thought was a guard. “Hey, you!” the man yelled, pointing at Korra. Naruto wondered why he was left out. “Stop! You can't fish here!” Ah, Korra was the one with the sticks. Naruto had been sitting a little further away.

 

Well, that was their cue to run. The old guy hopped into a bush and said something to Korra, who immediately mounted Naga and took off.

 

_Well, I guess she finally believes that I can keep up_ , Naruto thought. The girl hadn't even glanced at him.

 

They lost the guard quickly. That wasn't the end of their worries, though, since Korra decided to butt into some guys protesting. Naruto’s eyebrow twitched. He wanted to get to Air Temple Island now that they'd gotten their food. Why was that so difficult? Didn't Korra really want to get there, too? In the end, the only thing Naruto got from the argument was that no, everyone did not have bending abilities as Korra had so kindly left out from her explanation.

 

Then they got lost. _It never ends!_ Naruto screamed internally. Korra asked for directions while Naruto hadn't given up on trying to sense Sasuke. He furrowed his eyebrows. He'd gotten a huge flare of it when they first got here, so why was there nothing now?

 

Sage Mode would make it easier, but Korra wasn’t giving him a chance to collect any (he _probably_ should’ve tried that before. Oops). Also, did this world even have the type of nature energy he needed for Sage Mode? Nature energy wasn’t chakra, it was, well, energy from nature. He should be able to enter it if he tried. But, again, he wasn’t getting the chance to. Using Kurama Mode would work too, but he didn’t want to attract attention, not to mention that at the moment Kurama was dead to the world.

 

Then there was a fight and Korra got arrested.

 

-break-

 

Korra had the fight handled, which was why Naruto hadn't stepped in. Plus, he couldn't 'bend’ and he didn't have any elemental jutsu beside his rasenshuriken. Which was actually quite sad, when he thought about it. He still didn't want to reveal too much without asking Sasuke. The Uchiha had probably figured out a lot more about this place than Naruto had. Sasuke was just like that, absorbing information left, right, and center. He often noticed little things that Naruto never would.

 

That was why Naruto was sitting in the police headquarters while Korra was talking to the chief.

 

A guy dressed in orange (Naruto grinned) walked past him. A few moments later he walked back out with Korra on his heels.

 

“Tenzin, please,” Korra was saying. Naruto’s brain short-circuited. Tenzin. The guy who lived on Air Temple Island. Where Sasuke was. “Don’t send me back home.”

 

Ah, they were having an argument. Naruto would give it a little while before he interrupted.

 

“You blatantly disobeyed my wishes and the orders of the White Lotus,” Tenzin said haughtily. Naruto wrinkled his nose. What an ass.

 

Korra flailed. “Katara agreed with me that I should come. She said my destiny is in Republic City.”

 

Tenzin became a bright shade of red. “Don't bring my mother into this!”

 

Wait… Katara was Tenzin’s mother?!

 

“Look, I can't wait any longer to finish my training. Being cooped up and hidden away from the world isn't helping me become a better Avatar. I saw a lot of the city today, and it's totally out of whack. I understand now why you need to stay. Republic City does need you, but it needs me, too.” Korra said. That was a convincing argument. Naruto felt strangely proud, even though he hadn't done anything besides waiting for the right moment to interrupt. Soon…

 

Tenzin looked like he was trying to think of an argument. “You… ah…”

 

He didn't say anything else. Naruto jumped in between him and Korra, pointing an accusing finger. “You!” he yelled. “You're Tenzin!”

 

Tenzin blinked, taking a step back. “Well, yes. I'm Tenzin. You are?”

 

“Aha!” Naruto exclaimed, not answering his question. “You live on Air Temple Island!”

 

Tenzin blinked again. “I do. What's your name?”

 

Again, Naruto did not answer. “Then you must've seen Sasuke!” Naruto yelled. Tenzin didn't respond to that. He looked mildly confused. Naruto elaborated.

 

“He's about my size, dark eyes, black hair and a weird haircut. His face is always like,” Naruto narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips into a thin line. “Like this,” he said, trying to sound as dead he could manage.

 

“You know him?” Tenzin asked. Naruto whooped.

 

“Yes!” he exclaimed brightly. “Let's go!”

 

He was interrupted by some guy who was with Naga.

 

“Is this your polar bear dog, miss?”


	6. Chapter 6

Sasuke had stayed up the entire night, going through over half of the shelves of books to try to find something,  _ anything _ , that would help him. The only thing he'd found which wasn't absolute bullshit was a biography of some guy called 'Aang’. Aang looked exactly like the guy Sasuke had attacked and the book mentioned him being an 'Avatar’, which the Aang that Sasuke had attacked had mentioned.

 

The guy who lived in the house walked in just as the sun was coming up. Sasuke could only tell because of a small window in front of the desk. He had built up a comfortable amount of chakra, though it still wasn't even half of his full capacity, so he was a  _ little  _ uneasy. He hadn't jumped out of the window yet because (he had to convince himself not to escape) he had to find Naruto first, and he would get arrested if he tried to make it back to Konoha from the Land of Earth on his own.

 

He also didn't want to accidentally kill anyone out of frustration.

 

The guy glanced at the atlas that was lying haphazardly by the door, then the unkempt pile of books on the desk. Originally, Sasuke had decided to have two piles. One for fake 'reject’ books and one for ‘helpful’ books. However, Sasuke had quickly learned that all the books he'd gone through were part of the reject pile. Even the biography he found had a lot of nonsense in it.

 

“You read fast,” was the guy’s only comment as he picked up the atlas and placed it on one of many now empty shelves. Sasuke suppressed a growl.

 

“It's all garbage,” he spat. “What are you trying to make me believe?”

 

The guy looked bewildered, his mouth twisting into a frown. “Oh. Maybe you would prefer fiction works?”

 

Sasuke did growl this time, sounding terribly animalistic, even to himself. “Are you saying this—this fraudulence—is real?” he hissed. “What kind of idiot do you take me for?”

 

“Of course it's real. These are the most modern discoveries related to bending out there, coupled with biographies of legends,” the guy said. Sasuke scoffed.

 

“You’re a shinobi,” Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes, even though it was more of a question than a statement. This guy sounded almost completely genuine, so he was obviously a trained liar or con-artist. Sasuke suspected that he might be part of the ANBU of a smaller Hidden Village. However, the way his chakra felt betrayed that. Maybe he was just excellent at hiding it. Sasuke had underestimated him last night. This guy wouldn't be able to get ambushed if he could not only cloak his chakra but also change it so it would flow irregularly. He was probably a sensory type.

 

The guy looked confused. “What is a  _ shinobi _ ?”

 

Fine. If this guy wasn't going to give him any answers, Sasuke would get the answers himself. “Look me in the eye,” he said. Surprisingly, the man complied. Sasuke didn't understand this man. Was he smart or an idiot? He knew Sasuke was an Uchiha, so why did he listen?

 

Sasuke didn't pause to contemplate, though, and used the moment to his advantage and activated the sharingan, digging into the man's memories.

 

He went further back than he wanted, having not used or practiced this ability of his. He saw a woman in a blue dress,  _ Tenzin _ ’s mother, and Aang, his father, who had apparently died (then how did Sasuke see him?). He saw the world from Tenzin’s eyes, a world of  _ bending _ .

 

Sasuke deactivated his sharingan and could do nothing but stare. The world wasn't like that, so why was Tenzin’s whole  _ life  _ like that? The poor man must be under some kind of powerful genjutsu, tsukuyomi or kotoamatsukami, perhaps. Whatever it was, Tenzin thought that all of it was real and Sasuke was doing nothing to help the man’s temper.

 

Or maybe Sasuke had crossed dimensions. Maybe they hadn't completely sealed Kaguya. Maybe she had more, far more than six other dimensions at her disposal. That idea made Sasuke sick, because if that was the case he did not have the slightest idea how to get back. Amenominaka was scary. There was no guarantee that one could even get back from it without the original user of the jutsu. He couldn't create a portal in his current state anyway, and even then he barely had control over it. He could hardly create a portal that traveled over distances, much less crossing whole worlds.

 

“What did you do to me?” Tenzin asked harshly. Sasuke did not want to tell him there was a huge chance the man was under a huge illusion, or a near zero percent chance that he had traveled here from another world. There wasn't enough evidence for that yet. He couldn't say anything. He wouldn't say anything even if he was one hundred percent certain, because chaos would only ensue if people began to  _ try  _ to cross worlds. The same would happen if there was another user of the Mangekyo Sharingan (how else was the Tsukuyomi or Kotoamatsukami (or—more unlikely—an average although extremely powerful genjutsu) planted in Tenzin's brain?) that people found out about. It would lead to nothing but destruction so Sasuke couldn't say anything and that was frustrating but what had to be done had to be done.

 

“I'm sorry, I was scared,” Sasuke said, slumping his shoulders and lying through his teeth. Lying was what he was trained to do. “I didn't recognize where I was. I'm sorry.” Apologizing would ease Tenzin up a bit, surely. It worked, as the man's eyes softened slightly. He needed to distract him. “Can you airbend?” Sasuke asked. Tenzin believed he was an airbender. If Sasuke saw the airbending, it would erase the chance of kotoamatsukami or tsukuyomi and Sasuke would probably end up burning a few things in frustration. If Tenzin wasn't able to airbend, Sasuke would pull his eyes out and let someone else deal with another possessor of the Mangekyo. It was a win-win, as anyone could see.

 

-break-

 

Sasuke did not have to pull his eyes out, which he was slightly thankful for. He just had to burn a few things to vent and then he would be golden. Unfortunately, after showing Sasuke some airbending Tenzin had decided Sasuke would join him for his daily morning meditation. Sasuke didn't _ not  _ like meditation, but he would just prefer to burn things. However, the meditation did help him focus on his chakra stores and he managed to get his chakra to start restoring itself a little bit faster. He wanted it to persist after he stopped focusing on it, but he didn't have his hopes up.

 

A while later, Tenzin asked if he'd like another demonstration because 'airbending is always better after one meditates’. Before Sasuke got a chance to answer, though, three children bounded up to them, holding… Sasuke cursed. They were holding the very dangerous chakra-version of the Kusanagi Blade.

 

“Hey, mister!” the smaller of two girls exclaimed, holding Sasuke’s sword out to him. “This is yours, right?”

 

Sasuke nodded deftly, eyeing the blade. It was going to explode and he didn't want Naruto to turn up to find that Sasuke had managed to kill three  _ children _ of all things within less than a day of being awake.

 

“Can you show us some cool moves? I've never seen someone using a sword before,” the same girl continued. The smaller boy and the larger girl leaned forward in anticipation. The middle one was still holding out the sword.

 

One spark from its handle slightly too close to the girl's hand was all the warning Sasuke needed. With as much speed as he could muster, he grabbed the sword, threw it as high and far as he could because now it had touched him and it would definitely detonate, gave Tenzin a chakra-enhanced kick to the chest to knock him as far back as he could, grabbed the smaller girl and boy by their shirts in one hand (only hand), pulled the bigger girl between his elbow and his body, and pushed as far forward as he could, forcing much more chakra into his feet then he normally would.

 

Behind him there was a crackle of electricity before the sound of an explosion rang in his ears. Sasuke pulled the kids in front of him to act as a shield. He'd gotten far enough away that the most he felt was a little tingle on his spine that made his hair stand up (more than it already did, anyway).

 

When he was sure the electricity had receded, he released the children who turned to stare at him with wide eyes.

 

“That was so cool!” the boy exclaimed. Sasuke gave him a flat look. Yes, having their deaths on Sasuke's hand was definitely cool, especially when Naruto would be yelling at him for the rest of his life.

 

The older girl ran over to her father, helping him stand. He rubbed the spot where Sasuke had kicked him but otherwise looked unharmed. “You have immaculate reflexes,” Tenzin praised. “Thank you. You saved my childrens’ lives so I won't ask why your sword was a bomb.”

 

Sasuke took a wild guess that Tenzin wanted to know why his sword was a bomb. He did not feel like sharing that information. Exploding weapons aside, he was starting to feel hungry.

 

“Do you have food?” he asked, but the lack of inflection made it sound more like a statement.

 

“Just go with Jinora,” Tenzin said, gesturing to the older girl. “I have business in the city.”

 

“Let's go!” the younger girl exclaimed, grabbing Sasuke’s empty sleeve and dragging him along. Jinora and the boy followed them into the house and then into a dining room.

 

“I'll get something for you,” Jinora said while the other girl sat Sasuke down. The boy sat across from him with a wide grin.

 

“So, mister, what's your name?” the girl asked. “I'm Ikki and that's Meelo.”

 

Sasuke blinked twice at Ikki. He wasn't keen to telling strangers his name, especially when he didn't have a full understanding of the situation and Naruto had disappeared. “It doesn't matter,” he said flatly. Ikki’s excitement was snuffed momentarily to Sasuke’s glee.

 

Jinora brought a plate of some vegetarian thing, explaining that air nomads didn't eat meat. Sasuke nodded, practically inhaling the food. He hadn't realized that he'd been  _ that  _ hungry.

 

Sasuke stopped abruptly halfway through his plate, his spoon hanging at the edge of his mouth. There was something nagging at the back of mind, but he couldn't place a finger on it.

 

He closed his eyes to focus, the ramblings of the children slowly ceased. They'd been talking about his ‘cool purple eye’ if Sasuke had heard right. Their eyes were trained on Sasuke, wondering why he'd suddenly froze.

 

There were traces of chakra in the air. It was fiery and fierce mixed with almost hostility, if chakra could be hostile. If Sasuke had to describe it as a color, he'd say red. And there was only one person that Sasuke knew with chakra that could be described as red. He didn't think that Naruto had the tact to leak his chakra to allow Sasuke to sense him. Although that could prove very dangerous in the shinobi world. Naruto must've figured something out for him to let his guard drop enough so he could be tracked so easily. Naruto was oblivious, he wasn't super smart, but he definitely wasn't stupid.

 

However, Sasuke noticed that the chakra was spread thin. There were traces of it reaching all the way out to the city. It probably went beyond that, too, but Sasuke still wasn't in the best shape. He would say that he couldn't sense it because he wasn't a sensory type but he could usually sense Naruto’s chakra almost perfectly, no matter where the other boy was. Even if the weird selective sensing ability had only started after Sasuke had received the moon mark, which wasn't that long ago. Naruto wasn't trying to make it easy for Sasuke to pinpoint his location. Sasuke guessed that Naruto was only trying to make him aware of his presence. Which meant that Naruto knew where Sasuke was, which meant he was going to come to Sasuke. Naruto was trying to tell Sasuke to stay put. He could do that.

 

Upon this revelation, he resumed eating as if nothing had happened. The children seemed wary, but by the time Sasuke was done and heading to his room to get his things they were chattering again. Hopefully he could change out of the dreaded hospital clothing.

 

Apparently there had been a doctor that had come to make sure Sasuke didn't die, who had left sometime ago. Sasuke found his possessions in a bag on the bed. His possessions consisted of his shirt which had a torn sleeve and two holes going through it and dirty pants. His ankle covers and sandals were also intact. His shuriken seal and bandages were in there, too, which were useless as there were no shuriken in them. The lack of weaponry on his person was starting to make Sasuke uneasy. At least, more uneasy than he already was.

 

He took far longer than he should've, folding and then re-folding his shirt, followed by his pants. He put on his sandals and ankle covers since he was sick of walking around barefoot. He spent some time rolling up the bandages even though he was going to throw them out later. He began to get the hang of having just his right arm. More importantly, it gave him time to think about how to get out of this situation.

 

Unfortunately, this wasn't just some genjutsu. They'd been… transported here. By some famous guy called Aang, for reasons Sasuke didn't know. He thought back to exactly  _ how  _ they'd gotten here. No matter how many theories he came up with, his mind always circled back and connected it with the releasing of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. If replicating that was the answer, which it likely wasn't, they may as well be dead already. They couldn't exactly recreate the Infinite Tsukuyomi or God: Nativity of a World of Trees for that matter. If the jutsu wasn't active, they couldn't exactly release it, now could they? Other than that, Sasuke was drawing up a blank. The idea of using his rinnegan flitted across his mind, but he doubted it would work. Not only did he not have much practice with it, but he didn't have enough chakra to even  _ try _ dimension hopping. He didn't even know if the rinnegan had that ability at all.

 

Sasuke figured that they'd have to talk to this Aang fellow again. He didn't know how, but Aang was an 'Avatar’ and he'd told them to seek out an 'Avatar’, so it made sense. Sasuke didn't know where exactly to find him, though, considering he was dead. He'd said that some spirits would help them, but Sasuke was yet to find any spirits and he wasn't sure what kind of help they would provide.

 

His inner musings were cut short when the three nuisances barged into his room, proclaimed that he was slow, and demanding that he play with them. The smallest one was the one demanding.

 

He'd ask Tenzin about this Avatar and these spirits later. For now, he'd have to entertain three children and try not to kill anyone. Sasuke was quick to inform them of the wonders of a game called 'Hide and Seek’ before he took off.


	7. Chapter 7

In Naruto's opinion, it took far too long to get to Air Temple Island. It was already nightfall by the time the ship left the city. The trip  _ to  _ Air Temple Island wasn't that long, but anticipation and excitement we're building in Naruto's belly. Tenzin must've noticed if his scrutinizing looks were anything to go by, but Naruto found that he didn't care. The old man didn't comment anyway.

 

Naruto half-expected to find Sasuke on the dock waiting for him but after actually getting onto the island he realized that was not a very realistic hope. Still, he kept his senses trained on the Uchiha’s  _ now approaching _ chakra signature and just barely contained his excitement. Tenzin, Korra, and three old people were having a long-winded, boring conversation.

 

That was when three kids dropped out of the sky. Literally dropped. From the sky. Naruto was baffled.

 

The two smaller ones were visibly happy. “Korra!” they exclaimed, running you to hug the girl. The older girl appeared to be restraining herself before finally giving in, joining the hug as well.

 

“Are you coming to live with us on the island?” the smaller of the two girls asked.

 

Korra crouched so she was eye level with the girl. “No, I'm sorry Ikki. I have to go home now,” she said. Naruto waited for Ikki to jump happily, but then the words registered in his brain.

 

Hadn't Korra won the argument back at the police headquarters? Had the boring conversation been about whether Korra was going to stay or leave? Maybe Naruto  _ should've _ paid attention.

 

More importantly, where the hell was Sasuke and why was he not here yet?

 

Korra and Naga began to walk away. Naruto was about to yell and give Tenzin and these old people a lovely lecture about dreams and ambition before Tenzin himself said, “Wait.”

 

Tenzin walked towards Korra. He breathed in and Naruto recognized the signs. Tenzin was going to give a speech of his own, so he stood idly and waited for Sasuke to hurry up and get here.

 

“I have done my best to guide Republic City towards the dream my father had for it, but you're right. It has fallen out of balance since he passed. I thought I should put off your training in order to uphold his legacy, but you  _ are  _ his legacy. You may stay and train airbending here with me. Republic City needs its Avatar once again.”

 

Naruto didn't gather much from the speech, aside from Korra being something called an 'Avatar’. Wait… the bald dude had mentioned something called 'Avatar’! Did they need Korra's help to get back or something?

 

Korra gave heartfelt thanks, while the three children cheered.

 

_ Sasuke’s chakra is awfully close… _

 

In the time it took for Korra to lift the kids and Tenzin up in a happy hug (Naruto shuddered. He did not expect this girl to have that kind of strength. If her punches were anything like Sakura’s… Naruto didn't want to get on her bad side) Sasuke’s chakra signature came to a stop.

 

Naruto turned to face the end of the dock, an over enthusiastic grin marring his face. Sasuke started to walk towards him. Naruto noticed with a rather loud laugh that he was dressed in a hospital uniform.

 

“Bastard!” he exclaimed brightly, running up to Sasuke and enveloping him in a hug, before realizing how awkward it was as both of them had only one arm and hugging Sasuke was strange in and of itself. He let go and Sasuke gave him a strange look. Naruto laughed again. Oh boy, Sasuke looked so  _ stupid  _ in that. Not to mention uncomfortable.

 

“That looks so itchy, how are you wearing that?” Naruto asked with distaste. “You look like—” He stopped abruptly, nothing that was mint green and disgusting coming to mind. He would not let an insult be dropped, thought, so he pressed on. “a… uh… bastard.”

 

Sasuke exhaled loudly through his nose. “You look like mold,” he said flatly. Naruto stared, aghast, before forgetting insults altogether.

 

“We have a problem,” Naruto said, much quieter. Sasuke snorted.

 

Sasuke didn't say anything for a count of four seconds, then he blinked and with a little bit of forced shock, said, “Shit.”

 

It was still terribly flat and something about the  _ way  _ Sasuke said it had Naruto howling with laughter. Sasuke took a moment to stare at him. A flutter of something akin to  _ regret  _ or  _ longing  _ crossed his features but was gone just as quickly. Naruto didn't catch it anyway, he was far too busy trying not to fall over.

 

“How much information have you gathered?” Sasuke hissed when one of the old people went onto the boat.

 

“Not a lot,” Naruto admitted after wiping mirth from his eyes. “I met this old lady though. She can explain things to us, I think. She's in the South Pole though, so we'll need to take that ship,” Naruto said. He gestured to the ship behind them. The captain had come down to talk to the the old people.

 

“Did you find out anything about any spirits or an Avatar?” Sasuke asked, eyeing the ship. He seemed conflicted.

 

Naruto nodded, pointing his thumb behind them where Korra had just finished her hug. “That girl is Korra. Tenzin called her 'Avatar’.”

 

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the ship, then Korra, and then Naruto. Naruto took a step back, indicating they board the ship. Katara would help them.

 

“We need to stay with the girl,” Sasuke said. “Keep the person you met in mind, but staying with her is our best bet at getting out of here.”

 

Where 'here’ was went unsaid, but Naruto knew he meant 'this world’. Naruto raised his eyebrows, wondering what exactly Sasuke had found out. He'd probably been right in his assumption that the Uchiha had gathered more intelligence than himself, so he'd trust Sasuke’s judgement about this (since Sasuke’s judgement about many other things often didn't involve peaceful, bloodless solutions. Naruto was going to change that, though).

 

“Okay,” Naruto nodded. Korra and the others were walking their way, most likely heading to the rather tall tower that was ahead of them. Maybe that was the Air Temple that gave the island its name?

 

Tenzin lead Naruto to the dormitories, taking Sasuke away to get his things and a change of clothes. To say that Naruto was amused when Sasuke came back was the understatement of the century.

 

Sasuke was wearing long yellow robes with a red sash going down from the shoulder. He had a deep scowl on his face and a murderous look in his eyes. He held a bag in his hand so tightly that his knuckles were turning white against his already pale skin. In Naruto's book, he looked  _ hilarious _ .

 

“Not a word,” Sasuke growled, actually  _ throwing  _ his bag into the wall above the bed and leveling Naruto with a glare that he was almost  _ almost  _ immune to. “Not. A. Word.”

 

Wisely, Naruto didn't say anything. A few giggles slipped through, but that was just about it.

 

“What do you know so far?” Sasuke asked, sitting down on the end of the bed with a few curses about not being able to move.

 

“I kinda know what bending is and the technology,” Naruto said, shrugging. Sasuke was silent. He inhaled loudly, enough for Naruto to know that, yes, Sasuke had gathered far more information than he had and the brunet was going to explain it all to him at that very moment. That wasn't quite the problem. The problem was that Naruto was expected to  _ remember _ it all. Naruto gulped and settled more comfortably on the bed as Sasuke began his lecture.

 

-break-

 

Naruto did not think that Sasuke had gotten much sleep that night, but he didn't bring it up. Sasuke was still in the room but had changed by the time Naruto was awake. The clothes he'd worn before were neatly folded on the bedside table. Naruto suppressed his surprised flinch when he woke up to find Sasuke wearing the dirty old clothes from their fight.

 

After Naruto located the bathroom, he and Sasuke went to get food from the dining hall.

 

“Why are you wearing that?” Naruto finally asked. Sasuke didn't make eye contact.

 

“The robes were uncomfortable,” Sasuke replied. Naruto raised his eyebrows.

 

“Those are unwashed.”

 

He didn't peg Sasuke as the type to wear week-old torn clothes with dirt caked in them just because the other options were  _ uncomfortable _ .

 

“Hn,” was Sasuke’s response. He stood up, put away his dish, and left. Naruto did his best to finish quickly because  _ damn it if Sasuke starts sulking again I'm going to slug him into  _ next week  _ and he'll be sorry to— _

 

They accompanied Korra to give her speech on the mainland. However, they didn't stay for the speech. Sasuke had earned multiple looks, probably because he looked homeless because of his clothes. Unbeknownst to Naruto, he'd gone ahead and stolen some money. He pulled Naruto into a clothes shop while Korra walked ahead to get to the place where her arrival would be announced.

 

“You stole money?!” Naruto whispered harshly. Sasuke sifted through a rack of shirts. “We’ve been here for less than hour, Sasuke!”

 

“Just because you have something to wear doesn't mean I do,” Sasuke griped, pulling out a plain black t-shirt with long sleeves.

 

“You could've asked me for my change!” Naruto exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

 

“And then what, wear the same thing the whole time we're here? We're not going to magically get back in two days, Naruto.”

 

“How do  _ you  _ know?” Naruto seethed. He was mostly mad that Sasuke had  _ stolen _ . He'd changed him, ya know! Sasuke couldn't just go neglecting Naruto's whole speech about changing for the better!

 

“We don't even know how we got here, dead-last. The  _ only clue  _ we have is to find the Avatar and maybe some spirits. We found the Avatar, now what? Please do enlighten me.”

 

“Asshole,” Naruto growled. “Fine. I'll let you off  _ this  _ time.”

 

“I didn't ask for your approval,” Sasuke retorted. “Hold these.” He tossed whatever he'd picked out to Naruto's face. Begrudgingly, he held it while Sasuke moved on to find some pants.

 

They made it back just as the speech ended. Hopefully they could convince Tenzin to let them stay with Korra for the time being.


	8. Chapter 8

It didn't take much for Naruto to convince Tenzin to let them stick around. They didn't even have to wear the robes! Naruto had pulled the 'Korra is my friend’ card for that, but the content look on Sasuke’s face afterward was absolutely worth it. Apparently Tenzin wasn't going to make Sasuke wear them anyway, since he saved his kids’ lives or something and had simply given him those clothes for the night since he had nothing else on hand.

 

Though Tenzin did question where Sasuke had gotten his own clothes from, since the other night he'd had nothing. Sasuke said that Naruto had gotten money with him to which Korra raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Naruto realized that keeping up with this lie would be difficult.

 

Sasuke had gotten four t-shirts and four pants and had gotten a bag off of Tenzin. That meant Sasuke had more clothes than Naruto now, which he was a little bit disappointed about. His shirts were all plain and long-sleeved, in black, dark gray, light gray, and blue. His pants resembled standard ninja pants and were the same colors, just slightly darker than their respective shirts (except that black one). Naruto decided to buy Sasuke something orange the next time he had enough money. Naruto needed to bring brighter colors into the Uchiha’s life.

 

Now, two days after Naruto had arrived in Republic City, they were sitting in the Dining Hall with Korra and Tenzin while the former read from a newspaper.

 

“And, in the final round, the Buzzard Wasps won with a defensive knockout!” Korra lowered the paper. “What do you say we go to the arena tonight, catch a few pro-bending matches?”

 

From what Naruto had gathered, pro-bending was some kind of sport which required bending. Naruto would totally be pumped for that if he was a bender. Alas, he wasn't.

 

“That sport is a mockery of the Noble tradition of bending,” Tenzin said, taking a sip from his cup. Naruto thought it was actually pretty cool. According to Sasuke, this world had used bending for war before. It was a good change of pace to make a sport out of it. He wondered if they could make a sport like that back in Konoha. There would obviously have to be a lot of rules since shinobi had kekkei genkai, dojutsu, genjutsu, and the like. No weapons, obviously. It might be hard for those who didn't have large chakra stores and didn't specialize in ninjutsu, though, which posed another problem. He frowned. It would probably just be a hassle, since at least in this world everyone had about the same abilities, albeit on different levels. After all, there were only four abilities to have, one of which only five people could use. Naruto sighed. Such a sport wouldn't work in his own world, but he'd keep thinking of something that might.

 

“Come on, Tenzin!” Korra argued. “I've dreamed of seeing a pro-bending match since I was a kid and now I'm just a ferry ride away from the arena.”

 

“Yeah,” Naruto said with his mouth full. “I want to see one, too, now.”

 

Sasuke nudged him and gave a slight incline of his head. Naruto figured he was only saying that he'd come since Korra was going and he was still trying to find out more about her, being the Avatar and all.

 

“Korra is here to finish her Avatar training, Naruto,” Tenzin said, giving Korra a sharp look. “Right now, I think it'd be best if you remained on the island.”

 

“Is that why you're keeping White Lotus sentries around, to watch my every move?” Korra asked. Naruto looked around. He hadn't realized that the guys who were standing around wearing matching outfits were sentries. He wondered what exactly the White Lotus was.

 

“Yes, in order to learn airbending I believe you require a calm, quiet environment, free from any distractions,” Tenzin explained.

 

“Alright,” Korra said, smiling softly. “You're the master.” Naruto stared at her for a moment. Did Korra really just not argue?

 

“What about us?” Naruto asked. “I mean, can we do the training too?”

 

They had to train  _ somehow _ to stay in shape. Plus, if they trained with Korra, they could keep tabs on her Avatar-ness.

 

“I mean, I know we're not airbenders or whatever but there must be other things to it, right?” Naruto continued.

 

Tenzin seemed to think over this. “It's the first time someone has requested that,” he said. “Non-benders with the mind of an airbender. Not a bad idea. You and Sasuke may join us for our training, if you like.”

 

Naruto cheered and even Sasuke had a little bit of gratitude on his face, which made Naruto all the more happy. Naruto would be able to put that down as a win if Sasuke had smiled. He hadn't though, so Naruto considered it a three-quarters win.

 

A few minutes later, Tenzin had told the three of them to change into the traditional airbender clothing. Apparently, even if you weren't an airbender, if you were learning the art of it you had to wear it while you trained. Naruto liked the outfit, after all, there was orange on it. Now he had three outfits he could wear. Soon, he would have a whole wardrobe. However, this was Sasuke’s fifth, so the Uchiha was winning. Naruto didn't know when the amount of clothes they had had turned into a competition.

 

Speaking of Sasuke, him wearing a bright yellow uniform with an orange shawl was a sight to behold. A sight that Naruto admittedly laughed at. Sasuke looked mildly annoyed, not nearly as disgusted as he had with the robes.

 

Now they were changed and waiting with Tenzin's kids for the man to arrive with Korra. Behind them was an assortment of wooden gates, all staying in different directions, with some kind of symbol on each. Naruto had asked for an explanation but had received none.

 

The first thing Korra asked when she entered the area was, “What is  _ that  _ contraption?”

 

Naruto hoped that this time someone would explain.

 

“A time-honored tool that teaches the most fundamental aspect of airbending. Jinora, would you like to explain this exercise?” Tenzin asked. Why couldn't Jinora have just told him before?

 

“The goal is to weave your way through the gates and make it to the other side without touching them,” Jinora explained. Naruto glanced back at the gates. That shouldn't be too hard. Maybe it was a timed task.

 

“Seems easy enough,” Korra said confidentially. It seemed that they had the same train of thought.

 

“Jinora forgot to say that you have to make it through while the gates are spinning,” Ikki said energetically.

 

Naruto watched Tenzin as he walked up to the gates and took a stance. He did some weird movements with his hands (not that Naruto was one to judge) and then thrust his hands forward. Naruto yelped and barely managed to regain his footing when a surprising burst of air came out of Tenzin’s hands. Naruto widened his eyes as he watched the gates spin rapidly. Tenzin, on the other hand, calmly held up a leaf.

 

“The key is to be like the leaf,” Tenzin said, letting go of the leaf in his hand. “Flow with the movement of the gates. Jinora will demonstrate.”

 

Naruto tried to follow the leaf and its movements, but quickly lost sight of it. Jinora ran up to the gates and began to weave through them herself. When she came out the other side, she sent another gust of wind through the slowing gates. Naruto still didn't think it was  _ too  _ hard. If it was anything like sparring with Sasuke or dodging shuriken then Naruto could do this. Sasuke had an advantage because of his sharingan which Naruto thought was cheating.

 

“You better not cheat,” Naruto said, eyes narrowing suspiciously at Sasuke. The Uchiha blinked at him, further drawing Naruto's attention to his rinnegan. Naruto pointed two finger at his eyes and then at Sasuke in an 'I’m watching you’ gesture.

 

Korra went through first with a determined, “Let's do this!”

 

Her enthusiasm was short-lived. As soon as Korra ran into the gates, she was hit by one and straight into another. Naruto winced slightly as he watched her get knocked around. So maybe it  _ was  _ harder than it looked. Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo all shouted suggestions but in the end were no help.

 

“I want to go next!” Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically. He walked up to the gates after Tenzin sent another gust of air through them.

 

He got past three gates before he almost lost his balance. The gate came terribly close to his face so he leaned back without realizing that he did not have two arms to properly balances. He forced a little chakra into his feet to keep him upright and stepped back, stepped right, then walked sideways through the rest of the gates since his missing arm didn't take up any space. The gates hit the empty sleeve multiple times so maybe Naruto was cheating.

 

Sasuke scoffed when Naruto walked up to him while grinning. “Beat that,” he said smugly. He was mostly proud since he had done better than Korra.

 

Tenzin sent one final gust of wind through the gates. Sasuke walked in front of them, breathing slowly. He stood there for so long that Naruto got impatient and started tapping his foot on the floor. Okay, so maybe it wasn't that long since that gates didn't slow at all, but still.

 

Sasuke blurred suddenly. Naruto had not been expecting it so he missed it. One second Sasuke was there and the next he wasn't. Four seconds later, Sasuke was walking up to Naruto and the blond caught the redness that was fading from Sasuke’s right iris.

 

“You cheated!” Naruto accused, flailing his arm wildly.

 

Sasuke looked like he was about to say something, but then thought better of it and looked away with a quiet ‘hn’.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never completed chapter nine, but I'll still post what I have of it.

The best plan that Sasuke could come up with was to directly ask Korra whether she could contact spirits or not. They weren't getting anywhere with just her. He said as much to Naruto, who had hesitantly agreed. Sasuke decided he would ask without revealing too much about himself, but he would have to tell Korra eventually because she was likely a main factor in them getting back to their home world.

Sasuke had handed Naruto a book and told him to educate himself. Then he'd left to track down Korra. He found her in the courtyard, hanging up a newspaper.

He stood behind her, not entirely sure how to make her notice him. As it turned out, he didn't have to because Korra caught sight of him when she turned around to talk to her polar bear dog.

Korra jumped, then looked at Sasuke accusingly.

“You could say hi or something,” she said.

“Hn,” Sasuke responded. “I have a question for you.”

Korra crossed her arms. “Shoot.”

Sasuke hesitated a bit. Was this really the best he could come up with? He didn't credit his own stupidity sometimes. He should've thought this through longer. Then again, he did want to get out of this world. The sooner they got back, the better. He shoved away the doubt before he could extract himself from the situation.

“Can you contact spirits?” he asked, cutting straight to the point. Conversation was not something he was good at, and dragging this out would only prolong his suffering.

Korra looked taken aback, before narrowing her eyes. “I've never been able to enter Avatar state before,” she said, sounding strangely subdued for the expression on her face. “What makes you think I can contact spirits?”

Sasuke didn't know what an Avatar state was. He definitely needed more books. He wasn't sure how to respond. He'd just assumed that since she was the Avatar she could naturally contact spirits. It was mentioned in the biography of Aang that Avatars could contact spirits since they were a bridge between the physical and the spirit world. Sasuke knew Korra had the ability somewhere within her to do it since she was the Avatar, but he hadn't realized it was a skill that had to be learned or unlocked.

“Just wondering,” he said flatly, wondering if the lie was evident on his face. “Bye.”

Then Sasuke turned around and left. He was getting the sudden urge to burn something. Best to avoid that. Sasuke walked back to the dorms.

“So?” Naruto asked as soon as he entered. Sasuke shook his head disdainfully. Naruto frowned. “Then what do we do?”

“I don't know,” Sasuke said. Naruto picked up his discarded book from the bed so Sasuke could sit, which he did. Sasuke shut his eyes and exhaled loudly through his nose. “We find someone who can contact spirits or cross worlds.”

“Oh yeah!” Naruto exclaimed suddenly, scrambling to get the book that he'd just put away. “This has stuff about something called Spirit Portals!”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “I didn't expect you to actually read it.”

Naruto looked offended so Sasuke decided to change the topic so the blond wouldn't start ranting. He would look at the book later.

“Can you talk to the nine-tails yet?” Sasuke asked. “He's old and powerful. He might be able to help us.”

“His name's Kurama,” Naruto corrected. “And no, he's still asleep.”

Of course the one being that might have the potential to be of use was asleep. Though Sasuke guessed he only had himself to blame for that.

“Hn,” Sasuke said, taking off his shoes and placing them on the side of the bed. His head was starting to hurt so he would at least try to get some sleep tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you to everyone who read this story. I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted! I'll (hopefully) still be replying to comments even after I officially discontinue it.


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